Yet another E350 build
- Thread starter Sheep Shagger
- Start date
D
Deleted member 9101
Guest
I really like the tank and compressor mount.... very well thought out.
shawn_nj
Observer
Hats off...very impressive quailty and detail on your build. Its actually scary because you have done the EXACT mods I dream to doing to my quigley. You have no idea how bad I want that roof rack/watertank mounted in the spare area combo! And the side window (I wish I had), looks really really good there. I am just lacking a welder, fab skills, and any shop space to work on my van. Thats a great van setup you have there.
I should have weighed in by now with my praise too. I had to call the wife in to see your rig; very well done, man! I have emailed my fab guy this pic:
It takes him forever to get around to me but I'd love to have this done by October when I head back South again. Thanks for the great thread and sharing your work.
It takes him forever to get around to me but I'd love to have this done by October when I head back South again. Thanks for the great thread and sharing your work.
Sheep Shagger
Adventurer
Thanks for all the compliments guys, I'm on vacation at the moment so that's why I've been quiet. Hope to get round to finishing this, and posting some other changes I've made soon.
On the freezing issue, someone also mentioned RV antifreeze to me, I haven't had chance to read up on the stuff yet, but seems like it may be option to draining the system on the 1 or 2 trips a year I do to very cold areas.
Let me know if you need any dimensions.
On the freezing issue, someone also mentioned RV antifreeze to me, I haven't had chance to read up on the stuff yet, but seems like it may be option to draining the system on the 1 or 2 trips a year I do to very cold areas.
Let me know if you need any dimensions.
That would be a great help! Do you have them?! :wings:
Sheep Shagger
Adventurer
Had some time to do a few things. Had the EGR delete done, and with that a SCT tune to get rid of the EGR engine check light. The tune really woke the van up, so I decided to put in EGT & Boots gauge as I want to keep an eye on them now. Decided to mount them overhead as I don't much care for A pillar gauge pods and didn't want to cut up the dash.
Spent some time finding the right gauges that matched the Ford coloring. Ended up with Autometer Ford match gauges, but they created 2 problems.
The green night display is LED powered, so the dash light dimmer has no effect, think I can fix this with a resistor, but haven't spent the time to work out the value yet.
The EGT probe mount that came with the kit is a real POS, no way in hell are you going to get a air tight seal with the design. It's a NPT bolt with a hole through it for the probe and a set screw to stop the probe coming out. I tried it anyway, and got an exhaust leak as I expected. So I had to order the Autometer probe housing for weld-in bung, that has the compression ferrule fitting like all other kits, that one worked. But think it's made out of gold and cut with diamonds going by the price.
This is the crap fitting that came with the kit. (taken from another website), seems many people are complaining about them. Wish I'd taken the time to research first.
This is the type of fitting I used in the end, just threw away the weld in bung (piece on the left)
Next up was covering the air and water connectors. I tried a few different things but didn't like any of them, so I ended up machining some plugs. They are machined to catch in the female connector clasps but not push the valves open. So the plug itself is not holding any air or water back, just stopping dirt getting into the fitting. First time I had machined anything for O rings, that was harder than I thought if would be to get just the right fit.
Not sure how long those chains will last before rusting, but it's all I had handy in the garage. I'll find something better at a later date.
Spent some time finding the right gauges that matched the Ford coloring. Ended up with Autometer Ford match gauges, but they created 2 problems.
The green night display is LED powered, so the dash light dimmer has no effect, think I can fix this with a resistor, but haven't spent the time to work out the value yet.
The EGT probe mount that came with the kit is a real POS, no way in hell are you going to get a air tight seal with the design. It's a NPT bolt with a hole through it for the probe and a set screw to stop the probe coming out. I tried it anyway, and got an exhaust leak as I expected. So I had to order the Autometer probe housing for weld-in bung, that has the compression ferrule fitting like all other kits, that one worked. But think it's made out of gold and cut with diamonds going by the price.
This is the crap fitting that came with the kit. (taken from another website), seems many people are complaining about them. Wish I'd taken the time to research first.
This is the type of fitting I used in the end, just threw away the weld in bung (piece on the left)
Next up was covering the air and water connectors. I tried a few different things but didn't like any of them, so I ended up machining some plugs. They are machined to catch in the female connector clasps but not push the valves open. So the plug itself is not holding any air or water back, just stopping dirt getting into the fitting. First time I had machined anything for O rings, that was harder than I thought if would be to get just the right fit.
Not sure how long those chains will last before rusting, but it's all I had handy in the garage. I'll find something better at a later date.
Sheep Shagger
Adventurer
Also got round to tidying up some of the accessory wiring/fuses/relays & switches.
The fusebox / relay holders are mounted above the brake pedal & below the steering column behind the dash.
The fusebox / relay holders are mounted above the brake pedal & below the steering column behind the dash.
Sheep Shagger
Adventurer
Sheep Shagger
Adventurer
The gravity water fill I did in this post/link below, can be a bit of a pain if not parked perfectly since it's only a few inches higher than the tank.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/64302-Yet-another-E350-build?p=921315#post921315
After messing around, I decided I wanted a different kind of fill, one that I could connect directly to a hose. Picked up a "city water fill" valve from an RV store and set about making it fit in the rear door jam. Really only had to trim one side off to make it fit in the jam. Since I pulled the rear door speakers there was no need for the rubber accordion thing that holds wire and fit's between the door and the jam, so I pulled that and re-used the hole it once fit it. So now I have a water fill hidden in the rear door jam and I didn't even need to drill a hole. BTW, removing the rear light gives you all the access you need to the other side of this for all the pluming.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/64302-Yet-another-E350-build?p=921315#post921315
After messing around, I decided I wanted a different kind of fill, one that I could connect directly to a hose. Picked up a "city water fill" valve from an RV store and set about making it fit in the rear door jam. Really only had to trim one side off to make it fit in the jam. Since I pulled the rear door speakers there was no need for the rubber accordion thing that holds wire and fit's between the door and the jam, so I pulled that and re-used the hole it once fit it. So now I have a water fill hidden in the rear door jam and I didn't even need to drill a hole. BTW, removing the rear light gives you all the access you need to the other side of this for all the pluming.
Not sure how long those chains will last before rusting, but it's all I had handy in the garage. I'll find something better at a later date.
I'm totally stealing this idea for Boomer. I have just recently contemplated bringing a quick disconnect line to the front and rear bumpers of Boomer but was worried about contamination. Great stuff.